Fasting from social media

Is your social media life overrunning your social life? Is there a faith perspective to using new media?

Youth director and recovering social-media junkie Kyle Tennant joins us to share his experiences and offers a three day plan to detox, discern, and decide about how we use this pervasive technology. Tennant says it may be time to Unfriend Yourself. Here’s where this timely chat takes us:

Kyle explains how his first experience with social media brought him situations he didn’t expect.

Of course, these new media avenues have given us connections we’ve never had before. It’s an opportunity to stay in touch with friends and loved ones across the globe. Yet, according to Kyle, it’s never a bad idea to unplug yourself from social media.

There is a real difference between the relationships we have with those we see the most face to face and those that we primarily conduct online. Kyle introduces the concept of being “alone together” in today’s online friendships.

What’s at the heart of our presence on social media? Kyle says that our pages and profiles are essentially dedicated to promoting ourselves. We need to be aware of that innate agenda. Drilling down on the concept, we note how many are frustrated when they feel their friends aren’t paying much attention to their social media posts. Where is our sense of approval and worth coming from?

There is a key variance between communication and community. While communication is vastly increased by social networks, there is an almost utilitarian nature to them as well.

So, after hearing all this, should our churches be using social media? Kyle says it can be effective in “casting a vision”, but should never be used as a substitute for actual, face to face interaction.